On the poetry of Shogun

In this video I give my take on the poems featured in the 2024 TV adaptation of Shogun. Spoilers abound, including in the chapter descriptions1
00:00:00 intro
00:03:59 why a haiku isn't a seventeen syllable aphorism
00:12:12 Mariko and Buntaro's tea ceremony
00:20:42 Toranaga's surrender and his exchange of poems with Mariko
00:27:58 "a leafless branch"
00:35:52 Yabushige's death poem

[@eddiea70]

Excellent!👏👏👏

[@rawhorse]

Fabulous, Niall. Thank goodness we finished watching it last night, what with the spoilers and all. I’m planning on watching the whole thing again. It’s the first time I’ve wished we had a big telly.

[@NiallOSullivan]

Thanks Tim!
Sod the telly, get a projector! Not only is it perfect for home cinema, you can also do a slide show of your staycation snaps like a boring neighbour in a 70s sitcom.

[@leronharrison1110]

They weren't reciting and composing haiku, but hokku. This is coming out of the world of renga, linked verse. Hokku are the stand-out verses of the session. Haiku as a term doesn't appear until Masaoka Shiki coins it in the Meiji Period.

[@NiallOSullivan]

Thanks for this! I am aware of hokku ( and the less formal haikai for that matter!) but didn't want to spend too long going down that particular wormhole as the video was already long enough, hence why I stuck with the more generalised, and dare I say dumbed down, popular understanding of haiku. I really appreciate the correction, and that you spent time watching this. Cheers :)